Guest Blog Post - Welcome Josh!

It only took him 5 months lol...but Josh finally finished his movie about his 2 week whirl-wind trip to Taiwan {and first trip out of the US as well as riding on a plane!}. And I might be a little biased, but I have to say his movie didn't turn out too shabby! ;)

If you happened to miss reading about when he was here you can check out our 2 weeks together in Taipei HERE, Hualien HERE, & Kaohsiung HERE!

Enjoy & let me know what you think!

Mom Meets the Monkeys

I'm pretty sure 99% of my mom's motives in coming to Taiwan were to go to my monkey friends in Kaohsiung {if you're wondering about the other 1%... 0.5% was to taste Taiwanese food and the other 0.5% was guilt that she should probably come see me!} And, because that's what she wanted, I had to make sure her dreams would come true lol...and what better time to do that than Mother's Day weekend! {talk about a Mother's Day she hopefully never forgets!}

My mom headed to school with me Friday morning to meet my kiddos at FuLong and after lunch with them we headed to the High Speed Rail station (thanks so much to a gracious co-worker for a ride!) and headed down south to Kaohsiung. We arrived to Kaohsiung around 3:30 Friday afternoon and I had the perfect spot in mind to start our weekend. Lotus Pond is about the epitome of everything you could want in a "classic Asian" experience! Pagodas - check! Temple - check! Lotus flowers & dragons - check & double check! Perfect picture opportunities, Chinese gods, and fancy rooftops - check, check, & check! Lotus Pond has it all; and I knew my mom would love it!

We spent a good chuck of time exploring the temples and pagodas before we decided we had better head towards our hostel and check in before the hostel owner got grumpy with us! After checking into our hostel. Once we were all checked in we relaxed for a an hour or so {ok I'll be honest...we enjoyed the AC! It was 90 degrees outside with a heat index over 100 and 85% humidity...hot as heck!} Once we were mobile again we headed back out towards the Liuhe Night Market not too far from our hostel where we sampled teas & feasted on Taiwanese pork sandwiches, fruit milk, crunchy pork buns, and of course...dumplings! When we didn't think our feet could possibly take us any further we dragged ourselves back to our hostel and collapsed with visions of monkeys dancing in our heads! ;)

Saturday morning, of course things won't always go right!, started off with a little public transportation hic-up that we quickly straightened out. So, after an early rise & a hearty 7-eleven breakfast {no judging, I wasn't feeling like navigating Chinese breakfast menus at 8am!} we found ourselves at the base of Shoushan Mountain 壽山 at a large temple overlooking Kaohsiung City. Naturally, after exploring the temple and its twin pagodas for a bit we began our climb....and continued for the next 3 hours!

My mom was lucky! The first time I went I was alone and had to walk a good 45 minutes before my first monkey sighting. The second time when Josh and Tina went along we walked we walked maybe only 20 to 30 minutes before seeing our first little monkey family. My mom, on the other hand, walked less than 10 minutes before a mom and her baby are plopped in the middle of our path. Stopping to check them out several more came down to see who the 2 funky white people were and my mom's camera was working on overdrive! I was pretty sure she was going to call it quits after seeing her first several monkeys, but she kept right on trekking! :P

I got a little mixed up on the trail, but it proved so worth while as we had a great time hiking, we didn't get into any of the steep areas or off the dirt or wood-paved paths, and we were still able to see several medium sized groups of monkeys at different spots as the day wore on! {ok...I just looked it up out of curiosity...apparently it's not a GROUP of monkeys...but a troop of monkeys!..thanks Oxford dictionary for your help!!} 3 hours, lots of sweat, and super empty stomachs later we found ourselves at the base of the mountain where we quickly ate and then headed to our hostel for nice cold showers and afternoon naps!

Once nap time had officially ended we headed to the Pier 2 art center {a reclaimed railroad yard turned into an artist outdoor paradise!} to check it out followed by an amazing Thai dinner filled with more curry than our hearts could handle. And of course, what trip to Kaohsiung wouldn't be complete without a nighttime stroll past the Love River that runs through the city center?! A wonderful night indeed!

Sunday morning we got our tired tushies up for breakfast and then walked to the Holy Rosary Cathedral in town {fun fact its the largest and old in Taiwan and in the top 3 in Asia...not so fun fact...it's actually not that big haha} where we had English mass with people from all corners of the world....LOVE IT!

After mass we walked to the Kaohsiung 85 Sky Tower and holey moley guys...the views were great SPECTACULAR! You could see the city, the ocean, the harbor...they were amazing and we were so glad that we went! {and this was a first for me #winning!} Once we were able to close our jaws from awe we hopped on a pair of rented bikes, biked our booties all over Kaohsiung including stops at the sea-side university, Pier 2 art center, and a steamed bun shop before realizing that it was 6pm and we still had a 2 hour trip home! Goodbye Kaohsiung and Happy Mother's Day to my mommy!

Taking on Tainan

April 1 - 5, 2016

If you missed the post for the first half of this weekend you can check in out here, but I also know everyone is crazy busy and a 14 page long blog post is just not going to get read...so chop it in half I did!

Sunday morning we woke up late at Ariel's aunt's house and had a wonderful home cooked seafood lunch before heading to Kaohsiung, the county before Tainan, for the day. We didn't arrive to Kaohsiung until mid afternoon, but we quickly headed towards our destination {the one thing I had actually planned for our weekend lol}The Lotus Pond and its famous pagodas and pavilions. 

Before moving to Taiwan I associated dragons with Asian culture, but wasn't quite sure if that was how things really were or if it was just a stereotype that many of us place on the Asian art and cultures. Needless to say, I know the answer now for sure, that dragons are very much a part of Asian and Taiwanese culture as noted in the dragon and tiger pagodas that we went to see in Kaohsiung. These 7 story tall pagodas each have a statue in front of them; on the left a dragon and the right a tiger, as well as a winding walkway to reach their entrance. It is believed that if you enter the pagoda through the dragon you will gain good luck while exiting through the tiger will rid you of bad luck...I'm not a superstitious person, but who am I to say no to the possibility of good luck!!

Afterwards we went next door {with tea in hand!} to the spring and autumn pavilions where we spent more time checking the area out {I'm honestly amazed we spent nearly 3 hours at Lotus Pond!}. When we had finished Ariel's cousin picked us up and the 4 of us along with his girlfriend and her friend went out for a delicious Taiwanese dinner and ice cream before heading back to Tainan for the night. Once in Tainan we headed to a small local bar where we were able to relax and unwind from the week while playing a few rousing rounds of heads up!

Monday brought along a whole new set of adventures and beautiful blooms. We slept in again (OK, I can't lie...actually everyone else slept in and my lovely internal alarm clock had me up at the crack of dawn :/ ) and had a popular roast duck dish for lunch at Ariel's aunt house before heading out for the day. Afterwards we stopped at a local park to check out the trees that were in bloom and they were B-E-A-utiful!! Later we went to another abandoned warehouse that has since been taken over by Banyan tree {the same ones from the temples in Cambodia!} known as the Anping Tree House and checked out all the cool growth and the small history museum they had on site. Later in the day we stopped by Anping Fort and the giant local night market before settling in for the night with some Chinese Mahjong lessons. {I'm feeling more and more Taiwanese everyday haha!}

Tuesday brought with it even more food (you'd think I'd look like an elephant by now!), Fort Provintia, gourd tea, and a long train ride back home to a well deserved good nights sleep! Until next time Tainan!

Josh, meet monkey...monkey, meet Josh!

You know that fuzzy warm feeling you get inside when you introduce friends from 2 different instances in your life and the 3 of you have a great time together and all in life seems well...yeah, that's kind of what it felt like to introduce Josh to my monkey friends in Kaohsiung!

I was supposed to work Christmas day {perks of teaching in Asia right!} but rearranged my schedule so I taught all my classes in the morning and asked for the afternoon off (you've got to take what you can get!) But the afternoon off meant that Josh and I could partake in the ever classy & traditional 7-11 Christmas luncheon as well as get an early head start on the almost 2 hour trip to Kaohsiung (sidenote here: kudos to me, this was the first time I drove my scooter to the High Speed Rail station...yay me!)

7-11 Christmas lunch! Seaweed chips, coffee, pork sticky bun, Japanese rice cake, sweet potato, tea eggs, & yogurt drink...HELLO Taiwan!

You've Missed the Monkeys!!!

I am sooo sorry! 

It was brought to my attention that many people missed the post about the beloved monkeys!!! Well if you did {or you'd just like to look at their cute faces again!} I'll re-post the link here!

Monkeys, Monkeys, Monkeys...I've Never Been Happier!

Monkeys! Monkey, monkey, monkey...I've NEVER been happier!

Ok...so maybe I've been happier before than seeing dozens upon dozens of monkeys in the wild...but if you were to ask any of the locals on that mountain that morning, they would have surly assumed I was out on my first day trip from the insane asylum {and I can't say I have any shame with that!}

Sorry I'll back it up a bit, but seriously, I felt like the little kids in this old Disney video! Day 3 in Kaohsiung was by far the best! I woke up bright and early (and surprisingly due to my excitement, quite bushy tailed as well!) at 7am, and was up, dressed, out of the hostel and ready for some climbing before 8am. Sadly this early bird didn't get the worm though when I realized I was too early to catch the bus to the mountain. Sure I could have waited, or taken a taxi, or many other things, but I already told you I was a ball of excitement and energy, so  I decided at 7:45am that the best thing  to do would be to walk the mile to the base of the mountain (can't lie here, Friday to Sunday I logged  over 25 miles in walking haha). I arrived to the base and after asking a few people to point me in the right direction, I was off!!!

Although I began my hike early in the morning, I do live in Taiwan, and I don't care if they claim it's "fall" right now...it's still HOT! {Also side note, I only had my phone...no water, no snacks...just my phone...you are advised againt bringing  anything as the monkeys enjoy trying to take food from unsuspecting hikers...next time I'll bring water and a hiking stick!} As I began my adventure up a trailhead that  began next to a large temple, I began to get discouraged after the first 30 minutes or so as there were no monkeys, I couldn't see the view past the trees, there were no monkeys, there were more people than I was expecting, and there were no monkeys! As the discouragement began to set in though, next thing I know I came  to a built in clearing and was welcomed by this view...

Oh my goodness, BEAUTIFUL!!!

Kaohsiung Take 2

I have to say my weekend in Kaohsiung may have accidentally  been one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in a while! Our hostel was withing walking distance of so many places, the subway was easy to get to and reliable, and the views around the city continued to amaze us!

We woke up Saturday morning well rested and decided that today would be the day, we saw a couple monkeys the evening before but we hadn't really been able to hike the Shoushan mountain (also known as Monkey Mountain) that we had come to tackle and decided to see what we could do about it today.

We weren't 100% on where the trail head started {still wining it like yesterday!} but we had a map and a rough idea. When we came to this location, we were sure we were on the right track!

--- Silly us! Of course it's not that easy! Though beautiful, this trail goes up only about 10 feet haha! --

We continued walking around looking for a trail to climb and though we never found it the changing views still kept up entertained! 

Eventually, as frequently happens in Taiwan, a man drove past on his scooter and could tell we were lost (apparently 2 white girls on the side of the road with maps, phones, and confused looks gives us away!) He kindly stopped and gave us directions, and in our defense, we hadn't been far off! Sadly by the time we get headed in the right direction poor Brody had had enough (he's a trooper for 5 years old though!) and we decided to call it a day with no more walking!

Exploring Kaohsiung, What a Place of Beauty!

Pronounced "GOW" (like cow with a g) "shung"
"GOW shung" {and they say Chinese isn't difficult! haha}

This past weekend we had a holiday (yes! I know, we just had one, BUT, I'm not complaining!) This time we had Friday off for 10/10, also know as Double 10 Day.  I didn't have any concrete plans in the books, so I thought what better weekend to check something off my bucket  list (I've always wanted to do this and when I found it was a possibility in Tawain...let's just say I'm shocked I had the willpower to wait 2 months!) I stated  to ask around and Kristin and Brody were fair game for a weekend full of "winging-it" in Kaohsiung.

Kaohsiung is near the south of Taiwan and takes about and hour and a half to reach by the High Speed Rail that runs along the western coast of the country. My weekend was off to a soggy start with having  a scooter as transportation during a nasty rainstorm, but a quick stop for a helmet shield, and I was on my soggy way!

  

When I met up with Kristin and Brody in Kaohsiung we had little planned other than a contact with a hostel owner that was willing to give us a couple bunks for $490 a night (hello $15.80 USD!!!) We found our hostel, (OK, no really...our hostel driver began driving his bike towards the station and found us and led us back to the hostel) settled in, and asked Jason, the hostel owner the easiest way to get the the nearby mountain. He pulled out a map and began giving us directions and then said never mind, I'll just take you {umm again....exactly why Taiwan is amazing haha}

So Jason drove us up the back side of the mountain and stopped at a little rest area on the side of the road. And guess what?!?! We got out of the car and saw.....MONKEYS. They were behind glass, or in a cage, or behind bars...they were real live monkeys, out in the wild, and SOooo close to me!! Kristin had a little scare when she got out of the car and a little guy came a little too close for comfort when he noticed she had food lol, but she quickly put here belongings back in the car and we began to get to know our new acquaintances 

I mean please, look at THIS!!!

My Life May Now Be Complete!

I PROMISE I will catch up to this past weekend in the next day or 2, but in the meantime I can't wait to show you my favorite picture from the trip!

So here's a little {{sneak preview}}